NIR Imaging of the Integrin-Rich Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Ternary Copper Indium Selenide/Zinc Sulfide-Based Quantum Dots

Yakavets, Ilya; Francois, Aurelie; Guiot, Maelle; Lequeux, Nicolas; Fragola, Alexandra; Pons, Thomas; Bezdetnaya, Lina; Marchal, Frédéric

doi:10.3390/cancers12123727

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NIR Imaging of the Integrin-Rich Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Ternary Copper Indium Selenide/Zinc Sulfide-Based Quantum Dots

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Research Department, Institut de Cancérologie de Lorraine, Université de Lorraine, CNRS UMR7039 CRAN, 6 avenue de Bourgogne, 54519 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France

Laboratoire de Physique et d’Étude des matériaux (LPEM, UMR 8213), ESPCI Paris, PSL University, CNRS, Sorbonne University, 10, rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France

Surgical Department, Institut de Cancérologie de Lorraine, 6 avenue de Bourgogne, 54519 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Cancers 2020, 12(12), 3727; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12123727

Received: 2 November 2020 / Revised: 8 December 2020 / Accepted: 8 December 2020 / Published: 11 December 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cancer Imaging: Current Practice and Future Perspectives)

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Despite improved patient outcomes in a range of cancers, the prognostic of head and neck cancers remain poor, with more than 507,000 deaths annually. The management of these cancers requires multidisciplinary treatments, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or targeted molecular therapy; however, surgical resection is one of the first-line treatments for patients with head and neck cancers. In order to increase the positive surgical margin rate, we proposed a tumor-specific near-infrared nanoprobe for fluorescence-guided surgery. We confirmed the high specificity of the proposed nanoprobe towards head and neck cancer cells using advanced 3D stroma-rich spheroids.

Abstract

The efficient intraoperative identification of cancers requires the development of the bright, minimally-toxic, tumor-specific near-infrared (NIR) probes as contrast agents. Luminescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) offer several unique advantages for in vivo cellular imaging by providing bright and photostable fluorescent probes. Here, we present the synthesis of ZnCuInSe/ZnS core/shell QDs emitting in NIR (~750 nm) conjugated to NAVPNLRGDLQVLAQKVART (A20FMDV2) peptide for targeting α_vβ₆ integrin-rich head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Integrin α_vβ₆ is usually not detectable in nonpathological tissues, but is highly upregulated in HNSCC. QD-A20 showed α_vβ₆ integrin-specific binding in two-dimension (2D) monolayer and three-dimension (3D) spheroid in vitro HNSCC models. QD-A20 exhibit limited penetration (ca. 50 µm) in stroma-rich 3D spheroids. Finally, we demonstrated the potential of these QDs by time-gated fluorescence imaging of stroma-rich 3D spheroids placed onto mm-thick tissue slices to mimic imaging conditions in tissues. Overall, QD-A20 could be considered as highly promising nanoprobes for NIR bioimaging and imaging-guided surgery. View Full-Text

Keywords: indium-based quantum dots; near-infrared imaging; bioconjugates; integrins; multicellular tumor spheroids; time-gated fluorescence microscopy

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Yakavets, I.; Francois, A.; Guiot, M.; Lequeux, N.; Fragola, A.; Pons, T.; Bezdetnaya, L.; Marchal, F. NIR Imaging of the Integrin-Rich Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Ternary Copper Indium Selenide/Zinc Sulfide-Based Quantum Dots. Cancers 2020, 12, 3727. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12123727

AMA Style

Yakavets I, Francois A, Guiot M, Lequeux N, Fragola A, Pons T, Bezdetnaya L, Marchal F. NIR Imaging of the Integrin-Rich Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Ternary Copper Indium Selenide/Zinc Sulfide-Based Quantum Dots. Cancers. 2020; 12(12):3727. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12123727

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yakavets, Ilya, Aurelie Francois, Maelle Guiot, Nicolas Lequeux, Alexandra Fragola, Thomas Pons, Lina Bezdetnaya, and Frédéric Marchal. 2020. "NIR Imaging of the Integrin-Rich Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Ternary Copper Indium Selenide/Zinc Sulfide-Based Quantum Dots" Cancers 12, no. 12: 3727. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12123727

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NIR Imaging of the Integrin-Rich Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Ternary Copper Indium Selenide/Zinc Sulfide-Based Quantum Dots

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